Madison girls basketball routs Sand Creek

Friday

Feb 2, 2018 at 2:00 PM

Kristopher Lodes Daily Telegram Sports Writer @LenaweeLodes

While the weather was cold outside Thursday, it got heated in the Sand Creek gym, where the Madison girls basketball team beat the Aggies in a Tri-County Conference matchup 43-17 despite losing one of its best players.

With the Trojans (8-7, 8-3 TCC) leading Sand Creek 14-8 with a minute left in the second quarter, Madison’s Rachel Isom and an Aggie got tangled under the Sand Creek (3-12, 2-9) basket.

Both players went down, and Isom kicked her way out.

The official felt Isom used too much force in her kick and gave her an immediate technical foul and ejected her from the game, along with a fan who later argued the call.

“It was a weird game,” said Madison coach Rick McNeil. “…They are a physical team, and we knew that going in.”

While many teams would’ve sulked at the thought of losing a senior starting point guard, the Trojans used it as motivation.

Madison outscored Sand Creek 29-9 the rest of the way.

“(The team) knew they had to dig down deep,” McNeil said. “(Isom) is a good leader on the court, and they knew they had to step up. You could see it almost immediately.”

Madison closed the half with Kaitlin Svoboda scooping up a rebound and scoring for a last-second bucket to give the Trojans a 17-8 lead at the half.

Svoboda ended up leading her team with a game-high 15 points to go with five rebounds.

“It was kind of a tipping point for us,” Svoboda said. “We just needed to keep our composure and take the game home.”

For the Aggies, it was a regression after they had been playing at a higher level in recent weeks.

Sand Creek began the season 0-7, but showed strides in its 3-5 record in the last eight games.

That was, until Thursday.

“We took a couple of steps back,” said Aggies coach Matt Benge. “We’ve really been playing so much better. I think they got it in their head again that we struggled early in the season to score. They had a mental letdown.”

Leading Sand Creek on the night was senior Hunter White with six points to go with four rebounds and a block.

The Aggies showed flashes of good play throughout the game, but were not able to keep up with the Trojans.

“We’ve struggled against them for quite a few years now,” Benge said. “One of these years, one of these teams is going to have get over that mental hump and beat them, and then I think you’ll see things start to change.”

For the Trojans, it has not been a normal year by any means.

Madison began the year 1-5, but since has won seven of its last nine.

“We have so much more team chemistry,” Svoboda said. “We know where everyone is at when we have everyone back.”

A big key back in the lineup has been Laura Teunion-Smith, and while she held to only six points by Sand Creek her presence created openings for other players like Svoboda to step up.

The Trojans will need another night of players stepping up on Tuesday, when they host Britton Deerfield.

With the ejections, MHSAA rules state Isom will not be able to play in the team’s next day of competition.

Freshman Carly Anschuetz filled in nicely for Isom against Sand Creek, and McNeil will look for her to come through again against a solid Patriots team.

“I saw a lot of composure out of her,” he said. “Now with this happening, she has that feeling of now she’s more of a factor, and she handled it really well tonight.”

The Aggies will look to get back on track Tuesday at home against Whitmore Lake, which they beat earlier in the year.

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